Special Weekday Edition

 

The weather has finally gotten cooler, so I took advantage of a sunny Monday to ride my bicycle on part of the Farmington River Trail.

I began in Farmington, parking behind a church on Main Street. From there I looked for the Farmington Path which would take me to the Trail, but was having trouble finding the way. Another cyclist stopped to help and gave me directions and a brand-new map of the trail system. Very kind. I just had to go over to Meadow Street. All was aptly named as I rode through a wide meadow and the land was mostly farms.

I did, however, spot several gentlemen across the street, with their radio-controlled airplanes. This was the home field of the Central Connecticut Radio Controlled Airplane Club. It was a bit windy, but soon a plane took off and did a few acrobatic maneuvers.

At the other end of the meadow was Tunxis Meade park, and just beyond the bike trail head. This is southern terminus for both the Farmington River Trail and the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, originally the route of a canal that went 84 miles from New Haven to Northampton, MA in 1835. It was replaced by a rail line in the 1850s, and then became a bike trail in the 1990s.

I began with the Canal route. It was a very nice ride through the woods:

Over the river:

And past the wildlife:

For a Monday morning, there were plenty of other bikers and walkers sharing the trail, but I had stretches to myself. After six miles, the trail gave way to an on-street route through the town of Avon, so I decided to turn around at that point.

Back at the end, I then followed the River trail, which was newer, and not as wooded, but still a nice ride. When I got to Unionville, I decided to call it a day and returned the way I came. The bells of St. Patrick’s were tolling one o’clock when I got to the car.

On Tuesday night, we went to the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, just north of Hartford. There was an opening for an exhibition by Amy Chan in the Mercy Gallery, but found that there was also a student show going on at the same time. Soon after we arrived the place was mobbed by students, mostly young women, but before we were done looking, they had all but gone. Ms Chan did not wish to have her picture taken with her Art, but here is one of her pieces.

And here is a piece by Evelyn Beatrice Longman:

This is actually a portrait of the German actress Kate Parsenow (1907). Longman, I may have mentioned before, was married to the headmaster at the school and had a large studio there, which has recently been converted into a dormitory.  There is a permanent display of her work in the Richmond Arts Center

Thursday we made our first visit to Storrs, home of the University of Connecticut. It was the opening of the 45th Annual Faculty Art Show at the Benton Museum. Being unfamiliar with the campus, it took us a little while to find the museum, tucked in behind larger buildings. On the way we saw some Art:

The Dove Tower and the Steps to the bottom of a Pyramid by Ilan Averbuch

I don’t know if the entire faculty was supposed to be showing, but we only saw the work by around a half-dozen artists. The only one I could find was Ray DiCapua, who is the sculpture instructor:

Here are a couple of other paintings:

Fermata by Pamela Bramble, 2010

Room With a View by Deborah Dancy, 2011.

The evening was dedicated to performances by members of the music faculty, starting with Haruka Fujii:

A violin and cello duo played a couple of movements from Ravel’s Sonatoa for Violin and Cello, but we didn’t stay for the final two acts. I felt that the music, as lovely as it was, detracted greatly from viewing the Art as we were expected to quietly watch the performers.

On the way out, I spotted this landscape which was done in 1891 by Robert Vonnoh, who we discovered at Old Lyme and husband of sculptor Bessie Potter Vonnoh:

And this painting of the sculptor Frederick MacMonnies:

Frederick MacMonnies in his Studio by Ellen Emmet Rand, c 1898

Also in the museum was a Sol LeWitt:

Wall Drawing #11357 by Sol LeWitt

Even though the forecast called for rain, on Friday we went up to West Springfield for The Big E at the Eastern States Exhibition grounds. This has been New England’s state fair for many years. Begun in 1917 and named The Big E in 1968, it’s the sixth largest agricultural fair in the country.

Thanks to Kathy, who works with Marie at CT DOT, we had the best route to avoid the traffic and find the cheaper parking.

And while the focus seems to be on music performances (Reba McEntire, Cheap Trick, Bowser), rides, and deep-fried everything (Whoopie Pies, Kool Aid, Twinkies, cheesecake, brownies, jelly beans, but don’t forget the bacon cheeseburger grilled between two halves of a glazed donut), we went to see the horses and other animals. Although the weather was threatening, we took in a few of the other sights.

While the skies were gray, the morning was fine, but rain came in the afternoon while we were inside watching horses compete.  Otherwise our day was not affected much, except the Mardi Gras parade was canceled.

Our food highlight was the Finnish Pancakes we got at the Massachusetts building made by the Mass Poultry Association (8 eggs in each batch).  We got a bowl of fruita de mar at the Rhode Island building, and Marie found a bargain on soap in the Vermont building.  The Big E Super Circus was free and terrific with performances by daredevil comedian/clown Bello Nock (the only American to win the coveted Gold Clown Award at the Monte Carlo International Circus Festival), a very funny dog act from Chile, the beautiful Alexandra from Kazakhstan doing her aerial net act, Picasso, Jr, a fantastic juggler from Madrid, plus the elephants.

Our day/evening closed with the Freisian championship competition.